Earlier this month, I attended the Safer Streets, Safer Transport Summit, organised by the Safer Streets Mission Team at the Department for Transport. The Summit bought together local and central government, the transport industry, policing and the third sector to focus on tackling anti-social behaviour (ASB) as well as violence against women and girls (VAWG) on public transport. 

The Government has rightly set ‘Safer Streets’ as one of its five core missions guiding its work. Integral to this is a commitment to halve VAWG within a decade.  

An ambitious goal, given that the National Police Chiefs’ Council has described the scale of VAWG as being so serious that it amounts to a national emergency, with two million women every year estimated to be victims of violence perpetrated by men.  

In a 12-month period alone, 1 in 10 people aged 16 years and over experienced some form of harassment which caused them to feel upset, distressed or threatened, with harassment more likely to be experienced by women than men.  

Over 70% of women in the UK have experienced sexual harassment in a public place, most of which goes unreported, and this will include harassment in and around our public transport networks.  

Underreporting is something that UTG member Transport for Greater Manchester is seeking to address through its TravelSafe LiveChat service, launched at the Summit by Mayor Andy Burnham. Incidents on the bus and tram networks can be reported quickly and discreetly to a live call handler, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The enhanced service is the first step towards Greater Manchester’s ambition for the Bee Network to be one of the safest systems in the world. 

Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin also spoke of her ambition that every passenger must feel safe on our transport networks – that this is a ‘non-negotiable’. It seems obvious that this should be the case, but the statistics above suggest that we have a long way to go. So, what is to be done? 

Speakers at the Summit made clear that ASB and VAWG are everybody’s problem to tackle. The police do not have the capacity to be everywhere and respond to every incident. Furthermore, the burden cannot fall primarily on victims of incidents to identify offenders, or to feel as if they need to change their behaviour to feel safe.  

It is culturally accepted that women shouldn’t walk home alone at night, shouldn’t sit in an empty train carriage or on the top deck of an empty bus. That they are advised to hold their keys as a defence, to ring or message to let someone know they are on their way home. Women have questioned for decades why this is the case, why they still do not have the right or expectation to move around in safety. 

The problem lies with the offenders who feel comfortable and confident to behave in the way they do. We must question what it is about our culture and society that makes them feel that way.  

Everyone must be empowered to be ‘upstanders’ when they notice such behaviour – to call it out; to know how to safely intervene, distract and disrupt; to create a hostile environment against harassment, abuse and violence in all its forms. It is for all of us to contribute towards creating a safe environment for every person who simply wants to get from A to B.  

Earlier this month, Transport for London launched a new campaign in cinemas and ITVX encouraging people to be an active bystander and "act like a friend" to other passengers targeted by hate crime, sexual offences and harassment on London's transport network – as long as they feel safe to do so. 

Greater Manchester’s ‘#IsThisOK?’ campaign is another useful example. It is aimed at men and boys, urging them to speak out and challenge harassment, unwanted attention, abuse and violence against women and girls. The campaign included a specific phase related to public transport, encouraging men to consider their own behaviour and how it might be deemed unacceptable, as well as providing advice on safely intervening and reporting incidents.  

The new Buses Services Act will require bus drivers and staff to receive mandatory training on how to safely handle criminal and anti-social behaviour, including VAWG. 

Awareness raising on VAWG can be so impactful – often men do not realise that their behaviour could be seen as intimidating to women. One colleague described how, having completed the training, he is more conscious of when he is walking closely behind a lone woman and how that might make her feel unsafe. He now consciously creates space, crossing the road if necessary. 

I recently went upstairs on the bus at night to find all the lights were switched off. I sat there in the darkness with the other passengers feeling uncomfortable and, somewhat unsafe, assuming there was some fault with the bus. Many people were grumbling about it. I felt that someone must have reported it. When I got off, I mentioned it to the driver, rather reluctantly as I assumed that many people would have already pointed it out. Nope. He was completely unaware. As I alighted, the lights came on.  

A small example, but it serves to highlight that we must all be conscious of what we can do to help create a safe environment for all, and not assume that others will do the job for us.  

Rebecca Fuller is Assistant Director at the Urban Transport Group